


lines drawn in sand

by Oxyliary



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sexual Content, Light Angst, Physical Abuse, Rivals to Friends to Lovers, Xenophobia, god damn it i forgot about banter, this fic is rated M for the following reasons >>>>, this is an EARTH AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:35:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25885954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oxyliary/pseuds/Oxyliary
Summary: “Look, that’s very…” Amity sighs, trying to think of the right word, “… sefless of you… but I am not asking you to –”“You’re not asking me, Amity.” She’s not sure how, but Luz’s face somehow softens even more. “I’m doing it because I want to.”((Pleeease, read the tags and the author's note on the first chapter))
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda
Comments: 13
Kudos: 263





	lines drawn in sand

**Author's Note:**

> Howdee, I'm using this fic to excuse myself of Quarantine depression. Also these gay babies need a medium roast story so here it is. This fic is set in the HUMAN WORLD. They are seniors, and this story is set in America because I literally have no experience whne it comes to foreign high schools. Fully aware that Academies only grant scholarships to kids attending ALL 4 years, but for this fic's sake, we have to do this LMAO...
> 
> This is a medium (maybe slow? no idea yet) burn fic. Character ages are as follows. This will change over the course of the fic --
> 
> Amity - 16 years (junior)  
> Luz - 16 years (junior)  
> Willow - 17 years (junior)  
> Gus - 15 years (sophomore)  
> Emira - 18 years (College freshman)  
> Edric - 18 years (College freshman)
> 
> With that said, there is NO smut on this fic. If ure looking for spice, this is not the place. There are, however,,,, fluff, kisses, cuddles, LOTS of banter, etc..
> 
> With that said!! Enjoy the fic! :)) I update whenever I want to, so dont beg me. Cheers <3
> 
> (let me know if yall want a playlist to accompany this story)
> 
> EDIT:: let’s play a game called ‘how many typos will the author make because she’s too lazy to beta read, and she only writes when she’s drinking?’

**October 9 th, 2017**

The Blight family carries pride, power, and prestige. Simply being friends with a Blight is a privilege that very few have, and when it’s given, it is not taken for granted. Folks will bend and break their back just to stay on a Blight’s good side.

Amity should know.

She’s not a fool when it comes to that.

Strangers, fellow students, teachers, and even her own enemies have tried to befriend her. Years ago, Amity would have fallen for it, but somewhere along the line a thought snuck into her head and taught her a very valuable lesson about humans and how far they would go to gain some sort of notoriety. How much they would give to be in Amity’s position. How much they _want_ money.

Quite a decent amount of people have tried – and spectacularly failed – to win over her attention. Even her current ‘friends’ aren’t her actual friends; all of that is done to keep the Blight name strong and pure.

At some point, she tried asking people to leave her alone, and that only backfired.

She also realized – in the same moment – that villainizing yourself to get someone to respect your boundaries is an easier way to get someone to leave you alone.

Carrying the Blight name provides her with an insurmountable amount of advantages in life, and the cost of it are genuine relationships outside of family.

The trade is fair even though it isn’t.

Four, towering walls surrounded Amity. And even though there’s plenty of room to move around, she has never felt more suffocated than in her father’s study. Feeling the loneliness in her room is one thing; her siblings, Edric Blight and Emira Blight, always found a way to annoy her anyway. Pacing the frightening corridors of her home is another. Her mother’s office? Not a problem.

But her _father’s_ study room?

Lecturing her is the only reason her father would call her into that specific room, and her anxiety spikes every time she’s asked to come. Did she do something wrong? Did she slip up on her grammar again? Were her grades not enough? A month’s worth of supercut plays in her head.

It doesn’t matter how little her mistake are; Amity mentally jots it down and readies an explanation for her parents.

Because Blights are expected to be the perfect presentation of excellence.

She pinches and fiddles with the fabric of her dress, gritting her teeth as she waits for both of her parents to address her. They’re busy chatting about business and told Amity to wait until they’re ready.

She has been waiting for twenty minutes now.

Her impatience and annoyance prods at her chest. She sighs her frustration out, and as soon as she did it, she scolds herself by biting the inside of her lip.

“Are we boring you, Amity?” Her father speaks in a cool yet menacing voice. Amity doesn’t dare look at him. “I recommend that you pay attention. Maybe you might learn more about your mother and I’s business.”

“N-no, father. I’m not bored. Simply,” she chews her lip before tilting her head, “wondering what you called me for?”

Her parents share a glance towards each other, and when her mother rolled her eyes. She crossed her arms, smiling down at Amity with a look sharper than razor. “You’re turning seventeen this year. We task that you find a suitor at this age.”

Amity blinked. Had she heard right? “A suitor?”

“Yes. You will find a suitable suitor or else we will find one for you,” her father said so casually that Amity couldn’t stop her face from twisting in disgust. Neither parents saw, but then again, both are hardly paying attention to the conversation.

“And this suitor ought to pass. We are Blights,” her mother tucks a strand of green hair behind her ear, “we aim for perfection. So, aim well. We do not want anything less than perfection.”

“I-“ Amity’s voice spikes, and suddenly the room is suffocating her.

Her parents turned to her with their golden eyes digging deep into her skin, rattling her bones. Amity knows that look well.

See, her parents had paved the entire road of her life. Everything – and she means this with absolute surety – was made in a way that would appeal to them and only them. As soon as her parents saw a bright spark of potential, they threw her into music, history, math, English… She excelled in all of it, but her parents _and_ her personal tutor found a profound talent in photography.

And so, Amity is sent to Hexside Academy of Arts.

They didn’t force her either; at least, it’s not one of the things they force on her.

She loves Photography. Her passion for it is genuine.

There’s nothing more powerful than an image. A still-photo caught in a single second. A _second_. A silent moment caught somewhere in the middle of the universe’s creation and destruction. One picture, one moment, and _Amity_ caught it.

Just that thought caused her blood to bubble with excitement.

But having parents that leash you… Control you. Tell you which moment to snap an image of and which moment to let go of…

Amity surrenders. “Yes, mother and father.”

Her father smiles brightly. “Good. Now go on. Class is starting in a few, isn’t it? Tell Edric to drive safe.”

Amity would have said smiled back and said goodbye had their previous conversation not happened.

Instead, she leans down to scoop up her backpack. She slings it over her shoulders and walks away without another word.

The drive to Hexside was a lot more peaceful than usual.

Edric and Emira would either bicker over something stupid like whether or not cucumbers are fruits, but today it was more about some history homework _both_ of her siblings worked on. Something about who challenged Hamilton into a duel that inevitably ended his life.

She didn’t pay attention. She put on her earbuds and listened to something calming that would stop her anxiety from rising.

 _A suitor_.

Amity didn’t have many guy friends. Then again, Amity didn’t have to look for a guy either. Her parents wanted a suitor that excelled in their academic and athletic performances.

She can’t ask Boscha or Skara to fake the part for three reasons. One, Amity can’t stand being next to them for over an hour. Two, they would immediately tell other people about it. Three, those two are another of her parents’… decisions… for her.

Amity tightens her lips. _What_ is she going to do?

“You alright there, mittens?” Her brother asks with a smirk, “you look like you just sucked a lime.”

“Yeah,” Emira adds in, hiking her legs over the car’s leather console, “usually you’re yelling at both of us to shut up at this light but nope. So, spill it, sis.”

There were days when Edric and Emira would feel like actual older siblings. There were topics she didn’t talk to them about, because they’d only pick on her about it. For some reason, when it comes to their parents, though, they both seem to genuinely care about how she feels.

So, Amity takes off her earbud and rolls it between her thumb and pointer. “Mom and Dad… They asked me to look for a suitor.”

Edric and Emira glance at each other for a heartbeat.

Amity saw Edirc grip the steering wheel a little tighter before looking at Amity through the mirror. “Tell them you don’t want to. That you’ll find someone on your own.”

“They’re not exactly easy to reason with.”

“But _try_ ,” Emira emphasizes, “look at ed and I, we do what we want all the time. Average grades, delinquency, skipping classes… They’ve pretty much given up on us. Just gotta put your foot down.”

“They gave up on us because there’s _Amity_. It’s just their luck that their youngest kid had to be a photography protégé.” There’s some bitterness in Edric’s tone, but there’s also empathy. “Can’t one of your friends act like your date? At least until you graduate?”

“Boscha and Skara are the only ones, and I wouldn’t even call them _friends_ ,” Amity rolled her eyes.

“Well,” Emira glances over her shoulder, “your fault.”

“Wh-“ Amity stutters, her brows kitting together, “What do you _mean_ my fault?”

Emira laughs. “You push everyone, and I mean _everyone_ away. Remember when that exchange student embarrassed you at the college fair? In front of your dream school?”

Amity puffs her cheeks and crosses her arms.

 _Luz Noceda_. She knows her name _very_ well.

Mostly because she is Hexside Academy’s first and only transfer student. From what Amity gathers – and by gather, that means ‘what she heard from Boscha and Skara’ – Luz attends with a full-ride scholarship that’s paid for by the Academy itself. Apparently, despite being a ditzy fool, she had a golden eye for art. A woman of multiple talents. A protégé like Amity, but she doesn’t have the advantages a rich family like the Blights do.

Luz is Dominican. Her mother is _in_ the Dominican Republic, and her father isn’t in the picture. For what reason? Amity doesn’t know. Amity doesn’t _want_ to know.

Amity has met her twice, and both times that _dimwit_ has gotten her in trouble.

The less she knows about Luz, the better her situation will be.

“Ohh, god. Mom and Dad threw such a fit at you. Who knew our goody two-shoes sister would _cheat_ in a spelling competition –”

“It wasn’t _my_ call!” Amity fumed.

“But it was still _your_ decision to do it, mittens,” Edric laughs loudly.

Amity grumbles before leaning back against her seat.

The rest of the drive went calmly and when Edric drops her off at the front of her school, she slams the door goodbye.

Her classes fly by rather quickly. Maybe it’s because Amity couldn’t get out of her head. Or, maybe because of the fire drill that happened _during_ her lunch block. Maybe it’s because she actually took interest in what Boscha was talking about in class today.

But it could also be because Amity just had her music playing in one of her ears.

She always stayed afterschool. She needed her brother to pick her up again, but his college classes didn’t end for another hour. So, she takes this time to sit in the library and work on whatever homework she needed to get done or read through a book from the fiction aisles.

Books are about the only thing Amity had control over. She could read whatever she wants to so long as they had more than a hundred fifty words, and it wasn’t anything ridiculous like comic books or mangas.

Amity’s favorite is fantasy. The genre takes her into another world, and she would even swap herself with the main characters more often than she would ever admit. It’s nice to live outside of reality sometimes. The peace it brings her is… rather calming.

In the middle of this peace, though, a noise barrels into the library.

“Are you reading The Good Witch Azura series?!”

 _Oh_ no.

Amity sighs, placing the book down and begrudgingly looking at the girl standing in front of her seat. Her dark skin is a rather perfect color of coffee, and her eyes are only slightly darker. Her dark brown hair is cut short and brushed slightly to the side.

If Amity didn’t dislike her so much, Luz would’ve looked cute to her. But no. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

Amity takes her earbuds out of her ears. “I don’t know what it’s like where you used to live, but when someone is in the library, wearing both of their earbuds, it usually means ‘don’t talk to me’.”

Luz looks _completely_ unphased, which what the _hell_. In fact, Luz even shrugs and answers her reply easily: “I don’t know. I never had any real friends over there.”

“Well, I wonder why…” Amity growls, and Luz’s smile falters slightly. The guilt built up quickly after that, so Amity works through it by putting her earbuds back into their casing. “Yes, I read Azura. It’s one of my favorite books. Sorry, I’m not exactly having the best day.”

Luz seems to look around the library before taking the empty seat next to Amity. “Do you… want to talk about it?”

“What, you think I want to suddenly open up about my problems with _you_? Just because we like the same things?” Amity’s voice comes off a little louder than she meant it to. But, it definitely voiced what she needed to be voiced.

It is enough to rattle Luz, though.

The exchange student raises her hands, “N-no, no! Sorry, I mean,” she scratches the back of her head and tries again, “Bad wording. I was talking about Azura. Did you want to talk about Azura? To keep your head out of your problems, I mean.”

Amity’s twisted face relaxes immediately. “Oh.”

“Yeah, I was wondering if you wanted to help me write my fanfiction?”

“Fan..fiction? You write fanfiction?” For some reason, this is shocking to Amity. But it’s also pretty interesting. She knew Luz was a nerd. In class, Luz would have some sort of book or manga in her hands.

Luz grins like an idiot again. “Yeah! I’m writing one about Azura and umm… Hecate –”

Amity quirks a brow. “They’re enemies.”

“ _But_ ,” Luz places both her palms flat against the table, “imagine them as lovers.”

“But… which face would Azura kiss?”

Luz opens her mouth, then closes it, then opens it again. “B…both?”

Amity actually smiles at her answer.

Luz then gestures with her hand, “Look, if your partner had two pairs of lips, you’d kiss both, right?”

“I might prefer one pair of lips over the other.”

“But the other one would feel so lonely.”

“Not my fault my partner happens to have two lips and I prefer one of them,” Amity shrugs, leaning against her arm, “I can only do so much with one set of lips.”

“That’s the coward’s way out,” Luz shakes her head.

“I’m not insane like you, idiot.” Amity crosses her arms.

The warmth flooding her body at the sound of Luz’s laugh fills her with the peace she’s been looking for since her day started, but even if this feeling felt overwhelmingly good, she knows better than that… Not all good things are _good_.

 _Push her away_.

She didn’t want to.

 _You push everyone away_.

Not this time.

Amity leans down to her backpack, taking out a pen before reaching over to take Luz’s hand. She scribbles her number on the young woman’s palm.

“That’s my number.” Amity says plainly before taking her backpack by the strap and sliding an arm into it. “Send me that fanfic of yours. I’ll help you write it,” she says.

Luz looks stunned for a moment before finally nodding. “Thank you. Wait, does this mean we’re friends?”

“Absolutely not,” Amity says sharply, and for some reason she finds the way that Luz’s head tilts to look _a teeny, tiny_ bit adorable. “This is charity. Consider yourself lucky that a Blight would even talk to you.”

Okay. Maybe the head tilt with the soft smile was cuter. “I consider myself lucky then,” Luz beams.

Amity spares her another eyeroll before walking away.

Turns out, talking about Azura and making a new friend is the way to dull her anxiety. Because the minute it started seeping back, Luz happens to shoot her a message –

 **Luz _(17:28):_** Hola, amiga :3c…


End file.
